So how can you persuade them that the investment is really worth it and get your plans rubber-stamped? How can you convince the people you need to that a professional translation service can add huge value to your business by helping to get your brand’s message across globally?

It can be argued that in today’s global economy translation professionals are just as essential to a firm as IT experts or finance specialists.

Cross-border trade using properly localised websites which are translated into different languages should be a vast economic opportunity for businesses all around the world.

But for those companies who refuse to invest and opt for cheaper machine translations, the negative consequences can be significant.

Here are five ways you can persuade senior management to invest in your translation project.

When making your pitch, use humour to lighten and simultaneously strengthen your argument.

After all, as The Comedy School founder Keith Palmer says, if they’re laughing, they’re listening.

Highlight some cross-border gaffes that wouldn’t have happened with accurate translations by native translators, such as:

• The Clairol Mist Stick initially mis-fired in Germany before it was discovered that in German mist means “manure”

• Schweppes tonic water didn’t exactly break all sales records when it first launched in Italy. A good translator would have told the company that its product translated into “Schweppes toilet water”

• When KFC launched its first Chinese store, the famous “finger lickin’ good” slogan translated into “eat your fingers off”.

5. Try to speak the language of finance

Right, you’ve got them laughing. Now use a language the bean counters really understand: money.

Nearly two-thirds of French travel websites contain mistakes or translation blunders, a study has shown. This costs the industry an estimated 120 million euros (£98 million) every year.

It can cost far more to rectify a problem than it can to get it right in the first place. Some companies may have to bin brochures, recall thousands of products, and sometimes pay a large fine.

Perhaps the case that will have your account directors choking on their lattes most, however, is the badly translated word that cost $71 million (£42 million).

Teenager Willie Ramirez was taken unconscious to a US hospital in 1980. His Spanish family mistakenly thought he was suffering from food poisoning. The hospital relied on a bilingual employee who translated “intoxicado” for “intoxicated”.

A reputable translation services agency would have known that “intoxicado” is nearer to “poisoned” than any alcohol or drug overdose issues. But, based on this translation, medics treated Ramirez as a drug overdose victim.

He had actually suffered a brain haemorrhage. The delay proved critical. Ramirez became a quadriplegic as a result. The result? A malpractice deal worth $71 million. A medical interpreter’s average yearly wages would only have cost roughly $40,000 (£23,840).

Written by Yusuf Bhana

Yusuf is Head of Digital at TranslateMedia. He has an interest in how technology can help businesses achieve their marketing objectives. He's been working in digital marketing and web development since 2001 across a wide range of industries and clients.